The Embryo and the Bible

Fr. John Breck

The ancient Hebrews understood that we are created in the image and likeness of
God.

Christian anthropology is firmly grounded in the Old Testament understanding of the
origin and destiny of the human person. It makes its greatest departure from Hebrew
teaching with its proclamation of Christ's resurrection and ascension. These momentous
events provide the conditions for the general resurrection of humankind "at the last
day," and for the glorification or deification of those who dwell "in Christ."

The ancient Hebrews nevertheless understood that we are created "in the image and
likeness of God" (Gen 1:26-27). Our life-breath is the Breath of God Himself (Gen 2:7).
This divine "inspiration," identified by the Church Fathers as either the soul or the
Spirit of God, animates human life from its beginning, that is, from what we would call
fertilization or conception. Therefore, the psalmist can declare: "They hands have made
and fashioned me' (Ps 118/119:73), and "thou didst form my inward parts, thou didst knit
me together in my mother's womb" (Ps 138/139:13). Job reminds God that His hands have
fashioned him "from clay" and "knit [him] together with bones and sinews" (10:8-11). God
creates the "heart" of all persons and animates them with His own life-breath (Isa
33/34:15; Ps 32:15, etc.).

The Septuagint or Greek translations of Exodus 21:22 makes a distinction between the
"formed" and "unformed" fetus (we might say, between the fetus and the embryo). Yet both
live by virtue of God's indwelling Breath or Spirit. And they do so from the moment of
creation, that is, from fertilization.

New Testament authors took up these basic notions and developed them into a
distinctively Christian view of the human person. If Rebecca's twins could struggle with
one another in their mother's womb (Gen 25:21ff), John the Baptizer could, from his own
mother's womb, recognize and rejoice in the presence of Jesus, borne in the womb of Mary
(Lk 1:44). These are not "fetuses"; they are conscious, sentient human beings who relate
to one another as persons.

A great many other passages from Hebrew and Christian Scriptures could be cited to
make the point that God animates His human creatures from the beginning of their
existence and sustains them throughout the period of their earthly life. One of the most
interesting is found in the Wisdom of Solomon 15:11. Here the author speaks of those who
fail "to now the One who formed them and inspired them with active souls and breathed a
living spirit into them." For those who do know God, Christian witnesses will later
affirm, that inspiration or in-breathing of the life principle is the necessary condition
for achieving their ultimate purpose. If God creates the soul together with the body, as
Christian tradition affirms, it is so that the human person might participate from the
very beginning in God's own life.

For the sake of convenience--and perhaps also to camouflage what really happens in an
abortion--we make a distinction between "embryo," "fetus" and "child."

From a Biblical perspective, these distinctions or divisions in the human growth
process are artificial. There is complete continuity from one stage to the next. The act
of creation itself produces a living, "ensouled" human being, a bearer of the divine
Image, whose entire existence is given for one fundamental purpose: to grow in holiness
from conception, through maturity and physical death, to full participation in the very
life of God.

"As for man," St. Irenaeus declared, "it was necessary for him to be created; then
having been created, to grow; and having grown, to become an adult; and having become an
adult, to multiply; and having multiplied, to become strong; and having become strong, to
be glorified; and having been glorified, to behold the Lord" (Against Heresies
IV.38).

The Very Rev. John Breck was Professor of New Testament and Ethics at St.
Vladimir's Seminary from 1984-1996. He is presently Professor of Biblical Interpretation
and Ethics at St. Sergius Theological Institute, Paris, France and with his wife Lynn he
directs the St. Silouan Retreat near Charleston, SC. This article is reprinted with
permission of the author.